Asser

Asser, King Alfred's biographer, was a monk of St Davids (Menevia), who, about the year 885, was invited to the court of Alfred. Here he resided at intervals till the king's death (901), assisting him in his studies, and enjoying an affectionate confidence, of which he seems to have every way been worthy. Alfred promoted him to various dignities, and prior to 900 made him Bishop of Sherborne. He died in either 909 or 910. His life of Alfred, De rebus gestis Ælfredi Magni, was first published, with various interpolations, in 1572, by Archbishop Parker. Its trustworthiness was questioned by Wright, but has been accepted by Pauli and Freeman. The best edition is that of Wise (1722), which is followed in Petrie's Monumenta Hist. Brit. (1848).